Sledge lived and witnessed horrifying experiences at the beach of Pelilieu that were told in his story With the Old Breed. Although, to us, the beach is a calm getaway, Pelilieu is the furthest thing from calm. The story really shows the loss of hope from Sledge and the overall struggle against the Japanese troops. When Sledge first describes the battle, he gives off a hell type vibe filled with fatalities for every second he fought through in the Pacific with the other marines. Bombs were going off everywhere causing bodies to fly everywhere. Each scene and experience that he went through was vividly describes as if you were also living it. The second Sledge and his men landed on Peleliu, on September 15, 1944, they were either threatened …show more content…
The Japanese had various weapons as they attacked with mortars, machine guns, and grenades to take the lives of American marines. Sledge describes this part as the most intolerable experience he can remember.
Bullets, grenades, mortars, all seeking to kill as many Americans as possible, bodies splashing everywhere. Keep in mind the marines are coming off a boat to get to the shore of Pelilieu so that means there is nowhere to take cover since they are in water. The only thing to do is run. Sledge describes his first reaction of his team getting slaughtered as “A wild desperate feeling of anger, frustration and pity gripped me. It was an emotion that always would torture my mind when I saw men trapped and was unable to do anything but watch as they were hit. My own plight forgotten momentarily, I felt sickened to the depths of my soul. I asked God, ‘why, why, why?’ I turned my face away and wished that I were imagining it all. I had tasted the bitterest essence of war, the sight of helpless comrades being slaughtered, and it filled me with disgust.” Sledge just witnessed his brothers of war die right in front of him. Soon after, he then describes his first steps into actual war where he reaches land